1. Field of the Invention
This invention pertains generally to casino gaming systems. More particularly, the present invention relates to a method and apparatus enabling a player to keep and restore specific game enhancing changes, called transferable game play states, between game sessions and between games.
2. The Prior Art
2.1 Prior Art Gaming Machines And Game Play
Casino gaming machines, typically slot machines, have been in use for many years. FIG. 1 shows one general style of prior art gaming or slot machine, called a slant-top machine (the other most popular style is the upright). Shown is a front view 100 and a side view 116. Candle 102 lights when there is a machine fault (including a machine running out of tokens or coins to pay a cash-out), or a monetary prize over a certain amount to be awarded. Area 104 is typically art for the game, and is usually passive. There is a monetary input slot 106, which is typically a bill acceptor. Monetary input slot 106 may be, or may include, a coin acceptor. Coin acceptors are typically found on older machines or machines having lower-end betting amounts (xe2x80x9cpennyxe2x80x9d or xe2x80x9cnickelxe2x80x9d slots). Slot area 110 typically comprises a glass cover having opaque art applied, with windows 108 through which a player views individual reels. Alternately, slot area 110 and slot windows 108 may together be a video screen, showing simulated reels and reel spins. Finally there are a set of player input devices, typically simple buttons, shown as buttons 114. Side view 116 shows the slanted portion of the machine (thus the general name xe2x80x9cslant topxe2x80x9d), which has the game viewing area 110 and slot viewing windows 108 (or video screen) and monetary input device(s) 106. On newer machines, there will typically be either one or two small numerical displays, shown as 118. One display shows the player the number of game credits they have, the other (if present) may show some kind of bonus point number, progressive jackpot amount, or may simply have simple scrolling letters advertising the casino. These displays may be found almost anywhere on a gaming machine that is visible to a player.
Game play and underlying game functionality for prior art slot (and other) gaming machines, such as that described above, is well known. A description of play and internal functionality may be found in such books as: xe2x80x9cThe Slot Machine Answer Book: How They Work, How They""ve Changed and How to Overcome the House Advantagexe2x80x9d by John Grochowski, ISBN #1566251206; xe2x80x9cThe Casino Answer Bookxe2x80x9d by John Grochowski, ISBN #1566251079; and, xe2x80x9cBreak The One-Armed Bandits!xe2x80x9d by Frank Scoblete, ISBN #1566250013. These books are incorporated herein by reference.
There are several common aspects to the game play and internal functionality of gaming machines currently in use. One common aspect is that the outcome of each xe2x80x9cgamexe2x80x9d, that is, one handle pull or a touch of the xe2x80x9cplayxe2x80x9d or xe2x80x9cspinxe2x80x9d button (depending on the game), or one spin of the physical or virtual reels, is based on a random event. In modern gaming machines containing microelectronics, there is a random number generator (RNG) which generates sequences of random numbers, upon which the visual display of reel outcomes (or other play, such as poker cards) and the results of the play (a player""s winnings, including no win) is based. Also involved are the pay tables of the machine, as further described in the above referenced books. Each game play or game sequence is a unique event, having no relationship between one play and the next (i.e., they are independent events from a probabilistic standpoint).
Basic game play has been enhanced in several ways over the years. Those enhancements fall into two categories. The first is a bonus game, event, or winning; the other is the progressive jackpot. Each is briefly described below.
The bonus games fall into two subcategories: a single-event bonus game or bonus win; and, the investment-style bonus game. In the single-event bonus game or bonus win, upon the occurrence of a specified event in the primary game a bonus win or bonus game is invoked. Whatever the bonus is (i.e., spinning a wheel, picking a fisherman who xe2x80x9creels in a bonusxe2x80x9d, a scatter pay bonus, etc.), the extra play is finished and awarded (typically a multiplier of a base winning amount in the base or primary game) in a single sequence and the player is returned to the base game. Once the player is back to the base or primary game, the only effect of the bonus play is the addition of more credits on the credit meter. The bonus play and any award (winnings) is a singular event, ending with any additional credits being awarded.
An gaming machine having an investment bonus is characterized by having way of storing, in the machine, a counter corresponding to the occurrence of specified events from the primary game. After the counter reaches a specified count, the current player is awarded a bonus (additional game credits). Typically, the counter is shown to the player in a graphical form. An example of an investment bonus game is Bally""s(copyright) Blazing 7""s(copyright). As the player plays and 7""s appear in various positions on the virtual reels, a 7""s counter is incremented. The 7""s counter is presented to the player as a string of 7s in a row towards the top of the player viewing area. The player wins a bonus when the specified number of 7""s is reached. This is shown to the player as xe2x80x9cfilling upxe2x80x9d a row of 7s.
The bonus game is independent of who is playing. Thus, a common player strategy is to find an investment bonus game already having a significant amount of the bonus count in place, having been won or built-up by other players (see, for example, xe2x80x9cThe Slot Machine Answer Book: How They Work, How They""ve Changed and How to Overcome the House Advantagexe2x80x9d pages 115-120). The smart player will get the extra bonus sooner than playing a game with no previous bonus count; alternatively, leaving a bonus count to be taken over by another player is frustrating to the player leaving the game.
The other general type of bonus is a jackpot that builds over time, funded by taking a small portion of each bet (play). Called a progressive jackpot, it may be funded and awarded on a single machine or may be funded and awarded within a pool of machines. Having a pool of machines contribute to a progressive is most common, as it enables the progressive jackpot to get significantly larger than would otherwise be possible (due to the larger number of individual machines making percentage-of-play contributions).
There are severe limitations with both types of game enhancements. One important limitation is that a player cannot continue any type of on-going bonus count accumulation that spans more than one specific gaming machine, or spans more than one non-sequential set of game plays on one or more specific gaming machines. Another problem is that there is no way to restore a secondary game or bonus game to a specified configuration. The prior art enables a secondary or bonus game to be in one of two configurations: (i) the base or starting state; or, (ii) an xe2x80x9cas-foundxe2x80x9d state or configuration, being the result of some amount of previous play from previous players, the previous player(s) having incremented some type of bonus counter or having partially completed a bonus game such as Bally""s Blazing 7s (otherwise the bonus game would be in its initial or base starting state).
Recently there have been some additional enhancements over the older prior art, one such improvement being to enable a player to save prize credits (credits usable for prize redemption rather than game play). A player can save prize credits to a read/write media, and the re-insert the media into a gaming device enabled to recognize the data on the read/write media and the prize credit meter (a counter, being a display showing a number to the player) will be set to the number (amount) of prize credits that were on the read/write media. Prize credit saving can be found in U.S. Pat. No. 6,007,426 to Kelly et al., entitled xe2x80x9cSkill Based Prize Games For Wide Area Networksxe2x80x9d. Another recent patent related to gambling, but not the gaming machines of the present invention, is U.S. Pat. No. 6,165,071 to Weiss. Weiss which discloses a gambling machine that uses a smart card to save on-going sports data (i.e., hockey game results, football game results, baseball game results), so that a player can use the results of an on-going season""s games to make on-going bets in Sports Book bars and the like. The Weiss patent teaches the use of smart cards (or memory cards) because of the relatively large amount of data that needs to be stored by sports fans. Weiss further teaches betting based on non-random events (betting on sports events is based on the game play, player injuries, and the like) and teaches away from random event games such as found in casinos, Amerindian gaming or bingo halls, and the like.
2.2 Prior Art Gaming System Infrastructures
There is currently no prior art gaming systems infrastructure that supports, allows, or would enable a player to overcome the problems identified immediately above; that is, to set the configuration of a game in a predetermined way or to save a player""s investment in an investment bonus game over multiple individual gaming machines or over non-contiguous game playing sessions.
The existing gaming system infrastructures include the following. In small establishments, individual gaming machines (i.e., not networked) will take as input either coins, tokens, or bills, and will give out, upon a winning event, coins, tokens, or a printed payout ticket. In the event a player gets tokens or a printed payout ticket, the player must take the token or ticket to a cash-out booth, where a cashier exchanges them for cash (US currency).
In larger establishments, the gaming machines are networked together. Typically, the network comprises a serial connection between each individual gaming machine and a floor controller or game controller. The controller will act as an interface between banks of individual gaming machines and a more standard backend computer network (amongst other possible functionality, such as sometimes controlling a linked progressive jackpot or other game related functionality). The controller then interfaces to one or more computers on the backend network. Those computers will usually have two databases on separate machines; one works as a player comp database for players who use a plyer identification card, and the other is an accounting database for the casino. Typically these databases are independent from each other.
Coupled with the recent rise in non-Nevadan gaming installations has been increasing interest in alternatives to cash-only gaming machines. There are several typical forms this takes. One standard solution is to replace cash with tokens issued by the casino. The player exchanges cash for tokens upon entering the casino, and them must xe2x80x9ccash-outxe2x80x9d any tokens they have left when they leave.
Another solution is to couple some kind of cash deposit account with a traditional player ID account on a backend computer with a database. The player then uses their player ID card at a gaming machine, which enables the player to transfer monetary credits from their deposit account on the backend computer to the gaming machine as game play credits. See, for example, U.S. Pat. No. 5,265,874 to Dickinson et al., xe2x80x9cCashless Gaming Apparatus And Methodxe2x80x9d, which discloses one particular implementation of this type of system for casinos.
Another solution involves the use of tickets or vouchers for use in the gaming machines, where a player inserts a ticket or voucher, receives game play credits, and then receives a xe2x80x9cpay-outxe2x80x9d ticket or voucher at the end of play. The vouchers or tickets, as disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 6,048,269 to Burns et al., xe2x80x9cCoinless Slot Machine System And Methodxe2x80x9d, allows players to use currency in the form of bills (no coins) to get game credits, or to insert a voucher. If a voucher is inserted into the gaming machine, the voucher is verified on a backend computer, and the backend computer issues instructions to the gaming machine to set its credit meter accordingly. The gaming machine does not interpret or interact with the data on the voucher, that is all handled by the backend computer.
Mention is also made to U.S. Pat. No. 6,007,426 to Kelly et al. The Kelly patent teaches a system for prize redemption in a skill-based arcade setting, where a game user wins award credits as they play a game (similar to winning points on arcade games). The player saves the prize credits on the machine as game play continues, until they wish to redeem the prize credits for a prize. Prior to Kelly, game players were issued tickets (called universal prize tickets in Kelly) that were then taken to a counter and exchanged for prizes. Kelly teaches that a player may redeem their prize credits through the use of an on-line menu-driven system where the player sees pictures of items, indicates what item they want, the equivalent number of prize credits (the xe2x80x9cprize credit costxe2x80x9d of the item) is subtracted from their total, and the player is either given the prize or is given what Kelly calls a xe2x80x9cspecific prize ticketxe2x80x9d, that is, a ticket redeemable only for a single prize. Thus, Kelly teaches a way of redeeming prize credits for specific items in a manner more efficient than previously used in arcade settings by substituting the collection of general tickets and going to a counter for prize credits and the use of a video-based menu system. Kelly does not disclose or teach anything applicable to the enhancement of the game play itself (rather than redemption) in arcades nor any other setting.
There is a need to overcome the limitations found in the prior art that preclude players from becoming involved in longer-term and related game plays spanning more than one game session and more than one game.
The present invention provides for methods and apparatus to save and restore enhanced game play states for players using games in a traditional casino gaming environment, and similar environments such as Amerindian casinos, bingo halls, etc. Game features that are enabled for use with the present invention include, but are not limited to, reel nudging, alternate pay tables, replacement game symbols, holds, and bonus plays. Called savable/transferable enhanced game states, the states that may be saved are any of the ones just mentioned but further including any that are, or in the future may be, enabled by the game itself. This includes partially completed skill-based or apparent-skill-based game results when those games are used with random-event based games.